SAN ANTONIO — Every once in a while, an area suburb toys with the idea of dropping VIA Metropolitan Transit bus service and tests the political climate on cutting one of the basic services many people rely on daily.

This time it's Castle Hills. The City Council there is considering asking voters in November to decide if they want to continue dedicating a half cent of the sales tax for mass transportation. Castle Hills voters rejected proposed bonds for road work in 2012 and 2013. Now, some council members want to reallocate the funds to help address the $48 million the city needs in road and drainage repairs.

Castle Hills can ill afford to give up bus service to pay for roads. The cost benefits from the tax collected for VIA are high, and many people who live and work in that community rely on public transportation. Under state law, use of the diverted sales tax revenue would be limited.

In fiscal 2013, Castle Hills collected $459,610 in sales tax revenue for public transportation and VIA spent just over $1 million to provide service for the city of 4,200. The transit system has 84 bus stops in Castle Hills. On average, 901 passengers board in Castle Hills each day, and 868 passengers make it their destination, the Express-News reported. Included among the VIA customers are 55 VIA Trans clients.

Not all the cities that have considered abandoning the public transportation district have opted out. Shavano Park and Kirby considered it but stayed. Von Ormy, Fair Oaks and Windcrest residents voted out of the VIA service.

Bexar County has many small suburbs that are completely surrounded by the city of San Antonio, and residents in these municipalities should not expect taxpayers in the other jurisdictions to shoulder the cost of services that benefit them.

In Northeast Bexar County, students at the newest Alamo Colleges campus, Northeast Lakeview College, have no bus service because the two cities that lobbied long and hard to get the college located in their community do not participate in VIA Metropolitan Transit. The campus straddles the Universal City and Live Oak city limits, but Lakeview students seeking to catch a bus must walk a third of a mile to a bus stop in Converse.

It hardly seems equitable that Universal City and Live Oak get a free ride on Converse, and Castle Hills should not expect to do the same at San Antonio taxpayers' expense.